Ancient Japanese instruments meet the Western string quartet

This is a concert to reflect and recharge. 

Shakuhachi grandmaster Riley Lee joins koto grandmaster Satsuki Odamura in a landmark cross-cultural performance with the Chroma Quartet. Lee was the first non-Japanese person to attain the grandmaster rank on the bamboo flute, the shakuhachi, while Odamura has pioneered the performance and teaching of the koto in Australia following her relocation from Japan. The adventurous Chroma Quartet, which formed in 2020, comprises four of the most exciting young musicians in Australia. 

With a diverse program spanning music by Japanese koto master Michio Miyagi to Australian composers Ross Edwards, Anne Boyd and Lachlan Skipworth, alongside Debussy’s classic String Quartet, this collaboration – assembled for the intimacy of the Utzon Room – celebrates the historical legacy of creative exchange between Japanese and Western music.